Need some computer help, driver missing!

Can anyone help? I can't get the pooter working

I had a nasty virus a couple of days ago, my antivirus had expired and I'd stupidly forgotton to renew it. It was one of those viruses where you get a fake antivirus programme and it takes over the entire computer and doesn't let you do anything apart from purchase the "full copy" of said fake antivirus. Tried everything to get rid of it, thought I'd nearly gotten rid of the bsta*d, but to no avail. Eventually decided to just wipe the hard drive and reinstall windows.

So I did that, but I can't get the internet on there working, because it's saying the driver for the ethernet controller is missing.

A friend tried to help and had me download and stick on a usb stick a programme called Everest...he had me use that to try and find out info about the motherboard, but where the name of the motherboard should have been, it said "Unknown". Typical. "

So I'm not really sure what to do next. I'm completely baffled and don't have a clue what I'm doing. Any advice?

Thanks very much

Kate

Go to start/control panel/System/Device manager, look for 'network adapters' and see if it says anything. That will be the ethernet controller.

Then go to...

www.driverguide.com...

What is the make and model of your computer.
DriverGuide isn't free so I wouldn't use it.

Originally posted by GmoS719
What is the make and model of your computer.
DriverGuide isn't free so I wouldn't use it.

It's not free? I didn't know that.

OK just do a search then, after you find the controller in device manager.

without waiting for your answer of computer make....It would be interesting to know if its a Dell because the ethernet controller drivers come on a seperate disk.....waiting for make and model

Most companies now offer free downloads of their drivers, so depending on what make it is then just use the model number or system tag(if its a dell) and they'll let you download it for free! But if you need the help just post what make and model. No worries, it should be fairly easy after that.

My brother-in-law and I refurbish computers to supplement family income, and we run into this problem (missing drivers) all the time. Out of the myriad of programs available that help find missing drivers, the one I have had the most success with is Device Doctor
It is free, simple to use, and will usually give you a choice of which version of driver you wish to install.

good luck

oh, it can be downloaded to a usb stick, and you can install it from there.
This is assuming that you no longer have the original OEM cd's

reply to post by KatieVA


Guess you aren't in that big of a hurry huh lol.

make and model of the machine or if its not a big name then crack open the case and find the motherboard name and revision of the board would be nice as its not hard to find stuff but peeps need a few pointers

reply to post by KatieVA


You say your PC got a "nasty virus." How do you know this? If it is in fact a virus/trojan, and it has given itself Administrator privileges above yours, then you have no recourse but to Erase the drive, (not format, that just arranges folders for installation) using a good erase program. I use Ultimate Boot CD. UBCD has many programs, tools for all hard drives, memory tests and benchmarking, wiping tools, install tools, and many more.

A few days ago I worked on a Vista Home computer. The lady was on Facebook playing a game, and checking emails, when a flash went across her screen, and the computer froze. I got it to boot, but could not log in as Administrator. When I went to "Users and Groups," there was another Administrator account, and I could not delete it, or change the password. I could not access the Windows Registry. I could not un-install any programs. I had to re-install Windows for her. I have been seeing a lot of this of late too, many Facebook users are telling me they got it from there, but some just download something nasty, and then have to pay for it. Good luck to you, that is my assessment.

Originally posted by autowrench
reply to post by KatieVA

 

You say your PC got a "nasty virus." How do you know this? If it is in fact a virus/trojan, and it has given itself Administrator privileges above yours, then you have no recourse but to Erase the drive, (not format, that just arranges folders for installation) using a good erase program. I use Ultimate Boot CD. UBCD has many programs, tools for all hard drives, memory tests and benchmarking, wiping tools, install tools, and many more.

A few days ago I worked on a Vista Home computer. The lady was on Facebook playing a game, and checking emails, when a flash went across her screen, and the computer froze. I got it to boot, but could not log in as Administrator. When I went to "Users and Groups," there was another Administrator account, and I could not delete it, or change the password. I could not access the Windows Registry. I could not un-install any programs. I had to re-install Windows for her. I have been seeing a lot of this of late too, many Facebook users are telling me they got it from there, but some just download something nasty, and then have to pay for it. Good luck to you, that is my assessment.

I know this because I googled the virus - "System Fix" it's called. As I said, I already wiped the hard drive and reinstalled windows. The virus isn't what the problem is anymore, it's the fact that I have a driver missing and have no idea which one it is.

Originally posted by GmoS719
reply to post by KatieVA

 

Guess you aren't in that big of a hurry huh lol.

I went offline for a few hours to cook my boyfriend and little boy dinner, so not really in that much of a hurry, no Plus I have this laptop to keep me going in the meantime. I just asked because I'd like to use my PC again eventually and have no idea how to fix it myself.

Originally posted by occrest
My brother-in-law and I refurbish computers to supplement family income, and we run into this problem (missing drivers) all the time. Out of the myriad of programs available that help find missing drivers, the one I have had the most success with is Device Doctor
It is free, simple to use, and will usually give you a choice of which version of driver you wish to install.

good luck

oh, it can be downloaded to a usb stick, and you can install it from there.
This is assuming that you no longer have the original OEM cd's

edit on 23-11-2011 by occrest because: (no reason given)

Thanks very much for this, I'll give it a try.

Thanks for the help and advice, everyone. I tried going into device manager and doing it all that way before I tried anything else and we couldn't find anything out as it said "unknown" and wouldn't tell us anything...hence why we used Everest to find it out...but that still didn't work. It's an Intel...if that's what everyone meant

reply to post by KatieVA


two words...

Driver Genius...

Oh and i'd try to find it on pirate bay too, its free that way

Intel offers free drivers if you go to their site. Just type in the intel model number or just browse ethernet cards.

reply to post by KatieVA


Well then, navigate to "support," that is Gateway support, Dell support, and so on, and ID your computer, and download the drivers you need. Or, download Driver Doctor, do a scan, and download it that way.

Totally different suggestion. Cheap USB ethernet adapter.

Or if you have the full size slot available. Cheap ethernet card. Also there is some $1 cards out there on ebay as well if you are using xp. And I saw a $20 card if you have to have Gigabit performance.

That will let you on the internet though it might be a little on the slow side. Then try to update the driver for the other ethernet card from the online windows database. If it doesn't work then screw it. use the $4 usb ethernet adapter.

Thanks for all your help and suggestions guys Much appreciated.